Former President of Botswana, Mr. Mokgweetsi Masisi, has stated that Nigeria holds strong potential to build wealth and long-term prosperity through sustained investment in agriculture and its value chains.
Masisi, who made this disclosure after he had conducted a tour of Agbeyewa Farms located in Ekiti State, called on Nigeria’s governments and policy makers at various levels to create an enabling environment for agriculture and the agric value chain to thrive.
He commended the Chairman of Agbeyewa Farm, Niyi John Olajide and his team for taking the bull by the horns at the right time, adding that what he saw in Agbeyewa, especially in the areas of technology and workforce, was an indication that the future of the farm is bright. The former president also described Olajide as a passionate African who is keen about the provision of jobs and economic prosperity in the continent.
He said, “Government is to provide an enabling environment. Enabling the environment is policy-driven. It’s a legal infrastructure regulator framework and incentivization.
“As a government, you incentivize through tax breaks. You incentivize through schemes that are subsidies. Because there’s nowhere in the world where agriculture is not subsidized. So, it’s not a crime to subsidize agriculture because by doing so, the government is providing sustainable jobs and sustainable living. Of course, this will also enhance sustainable nutrition. When all these are applied, investors and government agencies can also diversify the area of agricultural output.”
Speaking further, former President Masisi also encouraged Nigeria and investors to look in the way of investing in the wildlife economy, pointing out that Nigeria is losing billions of naira for not opening up their wildlife economy, which he said is one of the major sources of income for his country.
According to him, “There’s a whole wildlife economy that I have asked John and all Nigerians I have come across. Where is your wildlife economy? We make hundreds of millions out of our wildlife economy.In Botswana? Yes. We make money from elephants, zebra, antelopes, crocodiles”.
Also speaking during the visit, Chairman Cavista Holdings(parent company of Agbeyewa Farms), Niyi John Olajide said Agbeyewa is doing everything that can be done to maximize the entire value chain for cassava and create more jobs and opportunities for more people.
“We are about moving into processing as we are working towards perfecting cultivation, perfecting aggregation and perfecting just everything around agric- trading. We are determined to make sure we maximize all the value addition and all the processing. All the things that can be beneficial to people, such as ethanol, cassava starch, and high-quality cassava flour.”
Agbeyewa Farms is the largest cassava farm in the world, designed to drive food security, industrial raw material supply, and sustainable employment through modern agricultural practices.
